Phew! Just colour me relieved. It seems like my Grandma has in fact bounced back, and just scared us to make sure we were all still on the ball.
After Wednesday night's doom-and-gloom call, I really wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived at the hospital with Dad on Thursday. I was expecting tubes and monitors at the least, but Grandma was propped up in bed and completely with it when we arrived, and totally tube-free. The doctor, who had been 3 times the previous day with a colleague accompanying him, had been in just once in the morning and proclaimed the chest infection had passed.
Although frighteningly small and frail, she seemed bright and awake, although a little tired at times, and chattered away quite happily for an hour and a half or so. Having said that, she nearly had me in tears as she said that she'd been too scared to go to sleep the night before in case she didn't wake up again, as she still had legal affairs she wanted to put in order, and so she'd spent the previous night counting the ceiling tiles to stay awake. It's horrible to think of someone being alone (she's in a private room) and terrified they're about to die. She then calmly said that now her affairs were in order she didn't mind anymore if she went to sleep and didn't wake up - huge lump in my throat at that.
What worries me is that, although she is one hell of a fighter, she's barely eating anything any more. Her appetite has been dwindling for some time now to bird-sized, but it seems she now has an aversion to any sweet foods, or anything that has to be chewed as her throat is constantly dry and she starts coughing very easily. The poor nurse doing the dinners while we were there was in and out multiple times to try and make my grandma satisfied, as she didn't want what was on offer and wanted the vegetable soup that had been on offer at lunchtime - luckily the nurse was very accomodating and went to track some down and heat it fresh for Grandma, who then proceeded to demand salt and pepper and (politely of course!). In the end, she only ate half the not-very-big portion before starting to cough and saying she'd had enough. I suspect she's eating two half-bowls of soup a day and something very small for breakfast, and I'd estimate she's not getting much more than 500-600 calories a day inside her, which isn't really enough. The nursing staff try to tempt her with more, and are trying to get her to drink the protein / calorie shakes for extras, but her anti-sweet feelings are making it pretty difficult for them.
Despite my worries though, Dad said that today she'd been even better still, and had actually made it out of her bed, with help, to move to and from the bathroom which is a huge step forward. So that's one bit of good news.
In other good news, I've finally got a holiday booked, and in just two short weeks I'm nipping off on a 5 day jaunt to Majorca with Jo and Lissa (of Costa Rica travelling fame, and back even further to Croatia if you've been hanging around that long)! It's the first holiday abroad I've had since the great travelling expedition of 2010, and the first time in I-can't-remember-how-long that I've actually been able to pay for a holiday up front without the aid of credit cards, thanks to my newly organised finances. I'm very, very excited as I'm craving sun and warmth and a complete wind-down at the moment, and this should fit the bill very nicely. 5 nights, 6 days of All Inclusive pampering at a spa hotel just outside Alcudia. It's not our more usual action-packed adventure, but we're all run-down right now, so it fits the bill perfectly. And there are bikes to hire, walks to explore and pools and cystal blue sea to be swum in if our energy is restored before the end of the holiday. Woooohoooo!
Which brings me to my last point: weigh-in today. Up a tiny bit on last week, just under half a lb. This is actually not a terrible thing, as I have eaten well all week, even if a few exercise sessions got missed due to unforeseen circumstances (long lunch meetings and hospital dashes). I also had fish and chips last night, which is I think is why I didn't have a loss. I hadn't intended to have a second treat yesterday, after the amazing Rocky Road in the morning, but we were back much later than expected from the hospital, starving hungry and there wasn't anything quick to cook in the house. Dad and I each had a mini fish and shared a large portion of chips between us. We didn't even finish all the chips though, and even after I'd finished my first plate and had a few extra chips, there was still virtually a third left, so I wrapped them up and chucked them in the bin before I could do something stupid like eat them. Due to all my activity points I'd saved last week, I didn't even go into negative points. So, you see, I'm not too upset about this morning's weight.
I ate a bit more than I'd have liked today, but after driving back from Dad's this morning and then grabbing a shower at home and legging it to work, I still managed to squeeze in circuits at lunch. I met my flatmates after work for drinks and dinner, but did pretty well, I think - I had a short cocktail and then diet Coke or water to drink, and stopped when I was full with my pizza and didn't push for dessert. After that, I was actually so shattered that I left the others to go boozing and snuck off in a taxi home.
After all - only 2 weeks to go until the first beach-bikini-bearing of the year .... best make the most of them!
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